Minnesota GI Bill: Apprenticeship, On-the-Job Training and Licensing

Two subdivisions of the Minnesota GI Bill reach people who are not enrolled in a degree programme, and they are the parts of section 197.791 that go unused. Subdivision 6 pays up to $3,000 per fiscal year for apprenticeship expenses and up to $3,000 per fiscal year for on-the-job training, with an aggregate ceiling of $5,000 in one fiscal year across the subdivision. A qualifying programme must be with an employer the commissioner has approved, must be documented and reported, must reasonably be expected to lead to an entry-level position, and the position must require at least six months of training to become fully trained. The same subdivision pays the employer rather than the veteran twice: $1,000 as a job placement credit on hiring and completion of six consecutive months of employment, and a further $1,000 after twelve consecutive months of full-time employment. That is an employer-side incentive built into a veteran education statute, and an employer that has never heard of it is the usual reason it goes unclaimed. Subdivision 7 pays up to $3,000 per fiscal year for professional and educational objectives that are not coursework: licensing or certification tests where the test and the credentialing body are approved by the commissioner; tests for admission to institutions of higher learning or graduate schools; national tests that provide an opportunity for course credit; a preparatory course for an admission test; and any fee associated with pursuing one of those. All of it shares the one lifetime pot. Subdivision 6, paragraph (f) and subdivision 7, paragraph (d) each say that where a person also receives benefits under the other tracks, aggregate lifetime benefits must not exceed $15,000. Spending $15,000 on tuition leaves nothing for a licence. The eligibility lists in subdivisions 6 and 7 mirror the education list in subdivision 4 with one difference worth knowing. Laws 2025, chapter 30 added "except that remarriage does not terminate a surviving spouse's eligibility" to the education route in subdivision 4, and did not add the same words to the survivor clauses in subdivision 6, paragraph (c), clause (3) or subdivision 7, paragraph (b), clause (3). On the face of the statute a remarried surviving spouse keeps the tuition benefit and loses the apprenticeship and licensing benefits. Whether the department administers the difference is not something the statute answers, and a remarried spouse seeking a licence reimbursement should get the department's position in writing before paying for the test.